I was stuck on a story at the library in Boise until I saw a guy reading a book about deep sea fish

3 comments

3 Comments

Oh man, that's the best feeling. Had a similar thing happen at a bus stop once, saw someone with a tattoo of a weird, old compass. Suddenly figured out my whole character's backstory.

lopez.karen11d ago

What kind of story were you stuck on? That's such a cool way to get unstuck, honestly. Seeing someone read about something so weird and far away can totally shake loose an idea. It's like your brain needed that little nudge into a different world. I love when random stuff in a library does that.

riley_west11d ago

Totally get that. I was writing a scene in a coffee shop and it was just dead. Then I saw a kid outside with a bright yellow umbrella, spinning it in the rain. Wrote the whole thing about a character remembering her grandma's yellow kitchen. Just needed that one weird little detail.